Iowa Football: Kirk is back, press conference reaction, PFF numbers & a 4 * Wide Receiver commits

Kirk Fen fresh off his suspension back at Iowa and with the press conference today we got a different side of Kirk he was funny what does that mean for the game coming up Saturday against Iowa State plus the grades from Pro Football Focus all today lock down Hawkeyes you are locked on Hawkeyes your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hey welcome in I'm Trent Condon and this is the locked on Hawkeyes podcast thanks for making locked on Hawkeyes your first listen every day we're available wherever you find podcast you can also watch us on YouTube while you're there hit that subscribe button helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV visit fanduel.com to get started well Kirk is back and had his press conference today after the one game suspension the self-impose suspension from the University of Iowa and the recruiting violations going back to his recruitment of Kade mcamera so we had that going on okay all well and good um some interesting moments though of the press conference and couple of bullet points to hit here I look at the depth chart not a whole lot of changes there one of the biggest ones is it's now listed as an or between Caleb Johnson we'll get to Caleb here in just a little bit or Kamari Molton who got the start there but um Kirk had some zingers uh had some I thought some funny moments for him and and definitely seemed loose you know remorseful of what happened the suspension talked about just the odd nature of that watching it at home had a Zinger about him and Mary about 20 yards away from each other and they got along okay he was loose I don't know if you read into that that that is confidence about what's going to happen on Saturday if it's just him kind of feeling himself out uh coming off the suspension he said it was odd walking into to the locker room and getting together with the players on Sunday and he could definitely understand that this is something that this guy is he is not a guy that is one that bends the rules he is not a coach that has been known as one of those people that we see in college athletics right that's not Kirk Ferris that's just not who he is and I'm sure it was frustrating for him I'm sure as he looks around the landscape of college sports and and realizes and thinks what else is happening in this space and and this is something that he is going to have to do and then something that the university and Beth getson company made the decision to do it's got to be incredibly frustrating but he was loose he was energetic and I thought he said some really interesting things let's start a couple of the talking points from Kirk feren today of course talking about Cade mamara and he mentioned the struggles in the first half what he saw uh Kirk brought it up a couple of different times and it's Bears mentioning because it's something that we hadn't talked about a ton I mentioned it in the rapid reaction podcast on Saturday night but that was basically it was the penalties in the first half and it was impactful I thought it really hurt a lot of drives of course the punt return that was negated because of a block in the back boy uh Caleb witch and he continues to just be out there making plays and he had a couple other big punt returns in that game just got to find a way to continue to get the ball in his hands not just in punt returns but other ways because that speed that elusiveness it is real and we continue to see that from him but of that aside brought up the penalty six in the first half just one in the second half really negated it and as I I said earlier this week every day or as you know this you saw it with your own two eyes that game could have been 70 nothing 20 to nothing at the half if I would just those penalties at the wrong time it was a bad choice a bad decision a a misplay here and there there that that thing could have looked much like the second half of the game did but Kade started get in a rhythm and that's one thing that Kirk talked about him getting into a rhythm missing on some throws but also showing that playmaking ability um also got a chuckle out of Kirk uh talking about well he's never lack for confidence talking about Kade mnam and I think we can all see that that is not something you have to worry about with Kade mcnamer but even confident guys even guys that are incredibly confident when you're working your way back from an injury there's still a little bit of a learning curve and shaking off the rust as we've talked about that's been a big case there but uh hearing him talk about Kade as we talked about throughout August and even after the kids Day Disaster and just how bad it looked I continue to tell you Brandon sven's a nice backup but that's what he is Kate mamera is the guy for this team it's a guy that these people on the football team believe in he has that confidence that Swagger and he also has the ability Kade mcamera at his best can take this football team to a really special place this year and during the second half of the game we saw him at his best making plays going up there mixing it up a little bit kind of scrambling around making play those are the things that you saw Kade MCM do at Michigan in his season as a starter does he have the biggest arm no is he the fastest guy no but he's got a big enough arm he's fast enough and that confidence that Swagger that comes along with it the Iowa offense needs that and he certainly delivers that uh speaking of the running back situation uh jazon Patterson is back after the one game suspension Caleb Johnson of course sat out the first half for a suspension something that every dares know as you were listening to lock on Hawkeyes last week we alluded to that last week on Wednesday so you shouldn't have been surprised on Saturday look I don't get a ton of breaking news uh this was not heavily sourced I didn't have multiple sources that's not I didn't run with it but come on let's read between the lines a little bit here and as I told you last year leading into the opener Gade mcamera was if in that one that quad entry was much more significant than what was being led on doesn't happen often but if I got something here for you I'm going to tell you I'm also going to tell you if it's just Rumblings if it's just rumors if it's those kind of things too but that's why you listen every day that's why you hit the Subscribe in fact if you were able to tell your buddies before the news quote unquote broke on Saturday about it at your tailgate getting together make sure you tell them listen to lock on Hawkeyes how about you do that for me and we'll keep passing along information whenever we get it let's get back to the running position though as we're having a little bit of fun here we saw Caleb Johnson at his best I I thought it was interesting the way that Kirk put it and saying he's run the football he ran the football as good as he's ever seen him and he's had some really good practices because that's what it is look it's those little things that Caleb needs to continue to do to get back to 100% in the coach's eyes we know the talent's there everybody can see the talent that Caleb Johnson has and also running a little bit harder and that was kind of brought up as well by Kirk and that's a component to this too it's just not being so easy to tackle when it's just not there fighting for that extra yard those little things that we talk about that's what Caleb Johnson needs to do jazon Patterson is back after the one game suspension he'll be we'll see out there remember he was the most impactful offensive player a year ago for Iowa in that game against Iowa State ripped off the big run on the short yarded situation was that a 50 55 Yard run something like that had a touchdown the first score of the game first touchdown of the game I should say to make it 10 nothing in that one a year ago go before the Sebastian Castro a pick six so that's what we're looking at here you got two guys back lesea Williams you saw he's still not close to 100% Kamari Molton added weight this year not a lot of holes for him in the first half and it it's it shouldn't be an indictment look the game plan was really vanilla especially in the first half of what Iowa was doing don't take that that well all right throw Kamari malt no he couldn't do it no no no don't go that far game plan was much different holes were a little bit different what were just doing schematically was a lot different in the first half of the game really a feeling out process and remember they're also going through the process playing without Kirk ference playing without your wide receiver coach John budm who would be either an eye of the sky or a guy on the sideline helping out the offensive staff down there so you're doing that you're working from behind on that angle plus you had the new communication system in the helmet that has started for the first time in college football this season so there's a whole lot going on and a whole lot of changes that were happening on that one speak speaking of calebs let's go to Caleb Brown he is back he's part of the rotation he's going to be out there Kirk said we'll see how much but he's going to be a part of it look re Vander maybe changed the equation a little bit and I do wonder what Caleb Brown is going to be in this offense look if Vander is going to be a guy now that's going to be seeing 50 60 snaps a game and you see nothing to say that he shouldn't be out there Jacob Gil shown certainly the ability I mean two guys that I think a lot of the summer we didn't think were going to be starters this year and they're thrust in there Jacob gills shows up from Northwestern in the summertime Vanner Z he was working his way back off injury after played High School baseball I me that's what we're talking about and these two guys were both impactful on Saturday Seth Anderson we still have to see and sounds like he won't be available for the Iowa State game from what Kirk said today he got that component to it but Caleb Brown out there that's a good thing he was a playmaker for them and that decrepit offense a year ago they need Playmakers certainly out there I talked about Vander Z Kirk did and just talking about how he's very unassuming a guy that doesn't get too high too low what does it sound like you're prototypical Iowa football player he's part of the army now and he's going to be out there and finally TJ Hall and talked about what's been brought up a lot with TJ he was thrust in there as a true freshman against Northwestern the fastest guy in the Big 10 run by him and he said he beat himself up maybe too hard about that he said that's football though that's he didn't say let football I know that can be derogatory going back years and years and years when Kirk actually said that's football but just talked about coaches players you have that moment at some point in football and he had that one but he's bounced back had a great spring after an injury plague sophomore campaign remember TJ Hall was a big-time Prospect TJ Hall I would beat some heavy heavy heads in order to get him to Iowa City now as a junior you're seeing what he can be playing in this defense and this wasn't just a job that was handed to him get a guy in Shawn Lee that had a lot of starts a year ago six starts last season John Nester was coming on he was listed as a starter back in Big 10 football media days so he earned that job and I thought you saw some good things out of him how good well we're going to talk about the numbers at least the way that Pro Football Focus looks at the numbers from the game and what kind of picture it will paint for Iowa football going into the matchup against Iowa State not only that well that offense look so good in the second half it led to a commitment from a wide receiver talk about that as we continue this is lockon Hawkeye passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether into speed power or style eBay Motors has you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die you'll always find exactly what you're looking for and with eBay guaranteed fit your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back because with eBay Motors you're burning rubber not cash with all the parts you need at the prices you want it's easy to make your car the MVP and bring home huge wins keep your ride or ey live at ebaymotors.com ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusions apply eBay guaranteed fit only available to us customers Tran kind of back with you once again on the locked on Hawkeyes podcast as always thanks for making lock on hawyes your first listen every day hit that subscribe button if you're watching us on YouTube if you're listening to the podcast audio only side five star reviews on Apple appreciate that helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans all right let's get into some numbers from over the weekend the numbers from Pro Football Focus as we break down what we saw let's start with the offense and Kade Mamer finishes as the 23rd ranked quarterback in college football after week one that continues look out yes it's going to get much more difficult starting this week against a very talented front for Iowa State a good defensive backfield including a trio of safeties that are all outstanding it's going to be different this week it's going to be different throughout the course of most of the Season compared to what it was against Iowa State still M Dez we've talked about a ton there he grades out with an 89.2 overall not just a great pass number but also so in the Run excuse me the Run game I did really well there as well after the slow start eight of 17 13 of 14 in the second half and uh if you look at the chart that Pro Football Focus lays out it shows that really did a lot of work down the field as he finishes two for three for 62 yards and a touchdown had uh another one that easily could have been there if he in the first half would have just got it up a little bit more uh to Luke Lee on that one and really the struggles came came kind of in the underneath stuff and and that's where you saw some misses certainly in the middle of the field early in the football game as he pushed things a little bit deeper down the field his hot spot was in the middle of the field and and that is a huge credit to the Tim Lester offense I mean how many times over the last half decade have we complained about just their inability to stretch the field use the middle of the field they got scared and scared to use it because a bad things happen in the middle of the field that is not the case with Tim Lester and not only are you doing things on the outside and stretching the defense out horizontally also stretching them out vertically and leading to what that's going to help with in the running game no surprise Caleb Johnson the top rated running back at an 80.5 very good on that front Max white didn't play a ton played late in the game he was second followed by Terrell Johnson Kamari Molton just a 53 and lesea Williams even lower than that a 46.2 for him as we talked about Caleb Johnson he is the dude and the guy that can I think put together a huge huge season this year if he's doing everything you need let's go to the wide receiver position ree Vander with those two touchdowns he is your top ranked wide receiver from Pro Football Focus a 73.1 grade as good as a wide receiver has been for quite a while it feels for Iowa football going back Jacob Gil uh finished second on the team with a 64.6 on that one Jared buy of course had a drop in there he was down at a 50.6 uh if you look at the numbers also in terms of the snap count that can definitely paint a picture as well Kamari Bolton at the running back position played 32 snaps Caleb Johnson 21 lesan Williams had 19 and then late in the game TJ Washington with five snaps and then three in that final drive for Max white and then at the wide receiver position Jacob gild played 68 plays in the game ree Vander was right with him with 64 Caleb weijian with 18 Jared Buie had nine and Alex ikeman had two at that position on the other side Luke Lea paid 58 snaps Addison EST strangle at 46 at orw worth orw worth excuse me with that big reception on the scramble mode of play for M deera played 12 Johnny pzi with four and Andrew Lynch there's a ding Catholic kid he had a couple of snaps late in the football game the tight end position Zack ort worth graded out the best a 92.8 with that big pass play that he had as a run blocker your top ranked guy that played a bunch was Addison a strength interesting to see that with a 66 grade in the Run blocking game and a 66 also in passing Luke Lee was big 86.5 in the past game and uh he finishes behind ort worth again limited snaps for him but now we're going three deep at the tight end position no surprise maybe the most interesting thing though in the offense yes we knew Caleb Johnson was going to be ranked highly and Reese vandery was going to be ranked highly and Kade mimar I mean we get all of that the offensive line who graded out the best Jennings dunker was number one the right tackle uh he was good in the blocking uh Game Pass blocking grade really good for Mason Richmond need that out of your left tackle certainly an 83.2 from him Logan Jones finished second on the team Logan Jones exited the game and Tyler Ellsbury came in for him uh that was a part of it so you saw that component with Logan Jones going out wasn't an injury it was a cramping situation got an IV and he got back in there a pass blocking was very very good for him run back blocking a little bit less uh 64 a half for the Run blocking grade for Logan Jones the same for Mason Richmond that's 64.5 Conor Colby was fourth on the team in terms of his grade in the game with a 65 saw a couple of plays out there Colby though very solid guard we saw him early in his career he wasn't a tackle since he's moved to the interior he's very very solid you're talking about a really good road grader uh there in the m in the middle and then you get into some of the guys that played a little bit late in the game now unfortunately the lowest rated guy out of all the offensive lineman that played was a starting left tackle in both Stevens a 58.2 for him pass blocking good not so much in the Run blocking game for him so one to keep an eye on there as they continue to build depth uh one other one I want to mention on the offensive line Michael mislinski uh big- time Prospect coming out of Florida the Texas was involved had a bunch of big- time offers he has been injury plagu throughout his career good to see him out there and at least getting an opportunity taking a look at the snap counts offensively along the offensive line 72 snaps each for Mason Richmond both Stevens and Conor Colby 62 for Jennings dunker as he saw one point a Nick Young came in for him he played 11 snaps 14 for Ellsbury Jones with that injury or the cramping I should say uh he played six0 snaps in the game and then late in the game you saw peeper binsky Trevor lock there's a name to keep an eye on uh going forward he's going to be a big piece of the future of the tackle position along with Jack dozler and Leon Jones who will be an inside guy those guys also saw some snaps on Saturday let's jump over to the defense and the grades from Pro Football Focus and going through and taking a look at some of the numbers would you be surprised that the guy that finished with three sacks in the football game was ranked as the fifth best defense Lineman by Pro Football Focus that's why some times we got to take this with a great assault a guy has three sacks in 30 sub snaps and he's the fifth best now this could be great news going forward obviously for Iowa will Hubert is the top ranked guy in limited action still that's good need depth on that defensive uh tackle position same for Luke Gaffney who finished second Deontay Craig love to see this Deontay Craig I anticipate a big season out of him a 73.5 and Brian Allen he got got to the quarterback of course but not just that Brian Allen speaking of being part of the army he was this was not just limited late game reps he was part of the rotation trying to keep Craig trying to get keep the other guys Ethan herit uh Max Len keeping those guys healthy keeping them out there and keeping them at their best come the fourth quarter you need Brian Allen we know about the ability to get to the quarterback but if he's playing over 30 snaps in a football game even like this I think that shows you that every other angle you're looking for doing the boring mundane things about playing defensive line for Iowa he's doing those things along with it Aaron Graves there he is shows up with a 70.7 now his problem was against the run at least in terms of the grading from Pro Football Focus a 49 grade there but the pass rush it was great 85.3 with those three sacks in the game ya black with a 68.6 against the run 59.9 with his pass rush grade we know why black he's going to eat up all the blockers and make it easier for Nick Jackson and Jay Higgins to make plays back behind him Jeremiah Pitman turned out to be the lowest rated I thought I saw some good things out of Pitman still got work to do obviously to become at least that number three defensive tackle going to need him that is a position that you can't get away with only playing two guys throughout the course of the year and we'll see those guys that graded out pretty high if that's something we're going to see going forward over the linebacker spot Kyler Fischer didn't play a ton but when he was out there certainly impactful a really good coverage on a play came up and made a tackle he finishes the top ranked linebacker with an 83.9 grade Jay Higgins second uh Carson Shire finished third with a 71.3 gate followed by Nick Jackson 70.8 for him and then Jaden Harold who played late in the game the Urbandale product I finished fifth out of the linebackers your top ranked defensive back Jamar Harris had the interception in the game during the first half his coverage grade really good great to see Cohen entering her out there 73 for him really good in coverage a good coverage grade out of him Quinn schy as you anticipate steady solid exactly what you want Sebastian Castro right there as well really good against a run really good in coverage and Des sha Lee and you just go through and you talk about the depth of this position man they were really good John Nester and then late in the game Cole keric are your Le the guys lowest on the list here from Pro Football Focus but they are deep they are talented and they just continue to find ways those are the numbers from Pro Football Focus of what we saw how does it paint the picture going forward will continue to break down the game against Iowa State before we get out of here though we got to talk some recruiting yeah that's right Iowa has nabbed a fourstar wide receiver at the Iowa Hawkeyes that's right John budm doing work with the recruiting we'll talk about that as we roll through this is s Hawk week and the locked on hawkey podcast today's episode of the lock on hawkey podcast is brought to you by FanDuel FanDuel sports book look we talk about it a ton here it is America's number one sports book well we have something just a little bit different for you now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and from YouTube TV then with the YouTube TV base plan you'll be able to watch every regular season game afternoon game out of Market game in your Market all you need is a Google account and a current form of payment and you can cancel at any time we got games coming up this week week one of the NFL of course looking forward to the openers we'll get to see the Kansas City Chiefs in their matchup gets the team they beat in the AFC Championship Game a year ago as they knocked off the Ravens currently the Chiefs at FanDuel favored by three in that one maybe a little Friday night action with the Packers and the Eagles in Brazil by bears taking on the Titans Bears favored by four in that one maybe you're a Vikings fan I'm sorry one and a half the number there and of course shawk it remains Iowa a two and a half Point favorite against Iowa state that money continues to come in on the under as that thing is now dwindled down 237 fanduel.com your spot to go and set things up and get your opportunity to get that three- week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket just visit fanduel.com to download America's number one one sports book back with you one final time I'm tran Condon and this is the locked on Hawkeyes podcast thanks for being with us to each and every one of you appreciate you joining us here and talking little Iowa Hawkeye football as we make our way now into September and continue to break things down well it's not just talk guys we got you covered on the Big 10 front I had a great CH time with Craig and& company on our Round Table discussion having a good time throwing some barbs at each other I told Jay Stevens from lock on Buckeyes be ready come October maybe I shouldn't have said that college football is back and it's not too late to catch up we got you covered with the big 10 and you can get all the locked on stable of college football experts by subscribing to the locked on college football podcast who has a chance to make the playoff the Hawkeyes what teams are going to cause chaos in their new conferences everything you need all in one place be sure to follow And subscribe to the lockdown college football podcast part of the lockdown podcast Network your team every day so Iowa picks up a commitment after the win and this is one that we've been waiting for for a really long time you know when you go through and you talk about this Iowa football team we know about the deficiencies at the wide receiver position just how rough it's been you go back a couple of years ago where there was times during August Camp they only had one scholarship receiver that was even available because of defections because of injuries it's been rough as good as tight ends and offensive line and defense as a whole has been this has been a position group that's been a struggle there's been guys recently Amir Smith marett Brandon Smith but they've been few and far between well hopefully they found another one here in teren Smith so we found out this summer back in June when recruiting was hot and heavy and we were talking about teren Smith this is a guy that had two major offers it was Iowa in Minnesota and you talk about two completely way uh different ways of recruiting I mean that's Iowa in Minnesota on one side you got Kirk fence No Nonsense going to tell you like it is there's no sugar coating if you're going to commit to us hey make sure you make your decision we're getting married right we're not dating if you want to make a commitment and then you got PJ Fleck and Phil Fleck the story of well speaking ofir Smith marett basically being locked in a room and waiting for his commitment before he'd be allowed to leave I mean those kind of things completely different he's a huster he's not my kind of person he is what he is Teran Smith made the right choice at least from my perspective four star in some recruiting Services three on others he's a big bodied wide receiver which after seeing R vandery over the weekend you definitely like that 64185 the one that I've always wondered is why we didn't see more for him a lot of the recruiting Services really have him ranked High and the offer list just never really married with him he's got to get tougher our recruiting analyst here on locked on said that's something you can see he's a little bit of a flyer he is kind of a track guy at times not a guy that always wants to mix it up being that complete football player but overall really excited about this one it was their number one realistic Target at the wide receiver position and getting a guy like that uh definitely big here the rest of the week lock down Hawkeyes we'll dive a little bit deeper into Iowa State get you the Cyclone perspective what they're looking at a very banged up Iowa State team the announcement today from Matt Campbell that Caleb bacon uh their top linebacker will be out for this football game and out for perhaps the whole season if not a majority of the season for Caleb bacon they're really banged up at linebacker Abu Sama left the game doesn't appear to be anything serious their top running back um the offensive line has been really really banged up as well so this going to be a banged up Iowa State team and this one you feel like don't let them hang around right if there's an opportunity to put him away mentioned last year up 17 nothing let them creep back into the football game and I was they got the football back down 2013 a year ago as I allowed them because well they just couldn't move the football to get back into the football game let's change that there's an opportunity there punch him in the mouth take him down right away end this thing early if you can because Iowa State's going to have to Chuck it around I don't think they're going to be able to run the football very effectiv ly against Iowa and also think about these guys you know this football team there hasn't been a whole lot of players that have won against Iowa State in kinck stadium of course lost the game two years ago in 2022 in the downpour game and then there wasn't a game of kinck in 2020 because of that there's a lot of guys on this roster that haven't beat the Cyclones at least in kinnick stadium a lot of them were there of course last year for the women win at Jack tce but make it happen make it special we'll continue to break things down as we do with you each and every day again thanks for making lockdown hawkey your first listen every day love to have you guys aboard with us love to see all your comments as well on YouTube you can also hit me up on Twitter at Trent Condon or you can find us on on Twitter at lockon Iowa thanks for being with us as always again go check out lockdown college football and the lock on college football podcast from nil deals to the never- ending conference realignment rumor rumors SP MC glofin gets you ready for the big season on that is upon us right now you can find the link to lockdown college football in the description so you don't need to search any further all part of lockdown podcast Network your team every day we got you covered on the Hawkeye front we'll talk to you again tomorrow until then go Hawks